EPA Aims to Weaken Radiation Regulations As FCC Gives Telecoms $2B To Install 5G Everywhere

By B.N. Frank

An article by The Register, “Eat my shorts, watchdog tells every city mayor in the US – FCC approves $2bn 5G telco windfall,” says it all. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has sold out to “Big Wireless” in a way that is even more embarrassingly obvious than even pro-Telecom elected officials ever expected:

If you were to pick a moment in which America’s telecoms regulator disappeared down the rabbit hole at its monthly meeting, it would probably be when the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Ajit Pai provided a full “up is down” statement.

“I salute Commissioner Carr for his leadership in developing this order,” Pai said today of his fellow commissioner Brendan Carr while discussing a plan to set a federal limit on what local and state governments are allowed to charge telecoms companies to add new 5G mobile cell sites on their property.

“He worked very closely with many state and local officials to understand their needs and to study the policies that have worked at the state and local level. It should therefore come as no surprise that this order has won significant support from mayor, local officials and state legislatures.”

There’s only one problem with this statement: it is wholly, provable [sic] incorrect.

In fact, the FCC just closed a short public comment period in which a very large number of mayors, city officials, and state legislatures explicitly stated the opposite: that they were entirely opposed to the plan.

A separate article by The Register provides more details: “US cities react in fury to FCC’s $2bn break for 5G telcos: We’ll be picking up the tab, say officials.”

Activist Post and others have reported many times already about widespread opposition to reducing municipal control in regard to 5G and small cell towers and related infrastructure. Complaints from those who oppose this federal legislation are actually still being posted at The FCC docket.

More from the article:

It’s worth noting that the five FCC commissioners are supposed to act as an internal balancing mechanism; each a largely independent thinker and telecoms policy expert in order to provide balance.

Since Pai – a former Verizon lawyer – took over, this shaky balance has come completely off the wheels. Pai pushed for Carr to become a commissioner and persuaded the White House to nominate him. They are old pals. Carr worked for Pai for four years as his legal advisor before Pai promoted him to general counsel and then got him as an FCC commissioner to guarantee him a safe vote on key decisions.

Activist Post has reported about prior shenanigans by Ajit Pai and Brendan Carr already also. Journalist Norm Alster may have said it best when he labelled The FCC as a “Captured Agency.”

This “captured” condition is only getting worse with the ridiculous and highly risky “Race for 5G.” As reported by Fierce Wireless, “Trump Officials vow, ‘America first, 5G first'”:

Top White House officials today held a “5G Summit” with one basic message: How can the Trump administration encourage the private sector to deploy 5G as quickly as possible?

The meeting, kept largely under wraps until this morning, essentially serves as a stake in the ground by President Trump to figure out ways to aid wireless carriers and the rest of the wireless industry with regulations that will speed up the deployment of the wireless industry’s next-generation technology.

[…]

Officials described the event as an opportunity for White House representatives to listen to wireless industry executives and to learn ways the Trump administration can play a role in 5G.

But Kudlow—who replaced Gary Cohn as Trump’s top economic advisor in May—made it clear that the Trump administration wants to give the wireless industry what it needs to deploy 5G quickly.

Kudlow said the administration is taking an “America first, 5G first” approach to the issue. Specifically, he said the administration will work toward policies—including lower taxes and deregulation—that promote growth in the private sector.

“The White House is behind this free market approach,” he noted.

Kudlow also boasted of the Trump administration’s efforts to encourage U.S. economic growth, particularly through corporate tax cuts. “We’re crushing it, we’re absolutely crushing it,” Kudlow said of the overall U.S. economy. “And I want the 5G to be in that crushing it thing.”

Interestingly, Kudlow said that “I’m not here to make war on China,” in addressing worries that China could overtake the United States in the world’s move toward 5G. But he did say that the administration will work to make sure U.S. companies can compete on the global stage.

Crushing it? Worried about China overtaking the U.S. in the world’s move toward 5G? Every day this sounds more like a “mine is bigger than yours” contest with China.

Regardless, The FCC’s “captured” condition started long before the Trump administration. There have been elected officials who have received large sums of money from “Big Wireless” for many years. But this reckless mission to put millions of small cell towers and their related infrastructure everywhere – including in front of homes – seems to now unfortunately involve the EPA as well.

APNewsBreak: “EPA says a little radiation may be healthy”

The Trump administration is quietly moving to weaken U.S. radiation regulations, turning to scientific outliers who argue that a bit of radiation damage is actually good for you — like a little bit of sunlight.

The government’s current, decades-old guidance says that any exposure to harmful radiation is a cancer risk. And critics say the proposed change could lead to higher levels of exposure for workers at nuclear installations and oil and gas drilling sites, medical workers doing X-rays and CT scans, people living next to Superfund sites and any members of the public who one day might find themselves exposed to a radiation release.

Or perhaps living near small cell towers?

Calabrese and his supporters argue that smaller exposures of cell-damaging radiation and other carcinogens can serve as stressors that activate the body’s repair mechanisms and can make people healthier. They compare it to physical exercise or sunlight.

OMG. Unfortunately for Calabrese and his supporters,

U.S. agencies for decades have followed a policy that there is no threshold of radiation exposure that is risk-free.

In fact, there are a growing number of medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens who think regulations and standards are too weak – not too strong – and want them to be updated to reflect decades of research proving harm from cell tower exposure and other wireless radiation emitting sources.

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2014 that 1 in 10 cell tower/antenna sites violated federal radiation levels. Back then that was approximately 30,000 in violation. More have been installed since then and more are on the way due to the “Race for 5G.” Of course, weakening the regulation level would probably eliminate the violations which would of course help the U.S. “crush it” on 5G.

Concerned yet? For more information, contact the following organizations: